Banning Polygamy in Assam to Create Positive Ecosystem for Women’s Empowerment Irrespective of Caste, Creed or Religion
By
Nava Thakuria, New Age Islam
7 August
2023
The nation
starts debating aggressively over the Uniform Civil Code (UCC, समान नागरिक संहिता) soon after Prime Minister Narendra
Modi advocated for the ‘one nation one rule’ policy at a public meeting in
Bhopal of central India. PM Modi argued that two laws in one house should not
be accepted and the nationalist leader even linked it with the rights of Muslim
women. As the State assembly elections are due in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Telangana (need not to talk about the national polls) early next
year, PM Modi’s argument was denounced by the opposition parties questioning
the government’s intention.
Ahead of
general elections, the opposition leaders belonging to the Congress, DMK,
AIMIM, Janata Dal (United), Rastriya Janata Dal, Bharat Rashtra Samity,
Trinamool Congress, etc have criticised the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party-led
alliance for propagating the UCC with an aim to get undue electoral benefits.
They argued that the UCC will destroy India’s diversity & pluralism, and
hence its implementation is not necessary. All India Muslim Personal Law Board
strongly opposed the UCC claiming that it was planned only to target the Muslim
population of India.
Even though
the UCC remains a preferred issue for the saffron leaders, many politicians
from northeast Indian States of Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya (who are even
political allies to the ruling BJP) expressed dissatisfaction over the
development. The Union government in New Delhi initially planned to place the
bill in the monsoon session of the Parliament and the Law Commission of India
gathered suggestions from the organizations & citizens over the proposed
UCC.
The law
panel received an overwhelming response from over 8 million submissions and it
is going to prepare a draft for the government as well as organise discussions
with various parties. Earlier, the office of the President of India received
over 0.3 million suggestions and the Prime Minister’s Office got over 0.2
million responses.
Once
implemented, the uniform law will be applicable to every Indian citizen
irrespective of his/her religion, community and gender. Thus, it would
overpower the religion centric personal laws. But many political observers are
not convinced that the federal government will bring the bill in the running
Parliamentary session (which is scheduled to culminate on 11 August). They
assume that the government is more interested in banning the practice of
polygamy first (which is considered as an important component of the UCC), which
will boost their electoral benefits from the Muslim women in particular.
Moreover, a
large section of Indian society also believes that polygamy (bigamy) has no
place in a gender-sensitive modern society and hence it should be outlawed
immediately.
Amidst the
intriguing debates, Assam government in the north-eastern region plans to go
ahead with a new law banning on polygamy. State chief minister Himanta Biswa
Sarma revealed that his government will initiate a bill in the upcoming State
legislative assembly session scheduled for September to ban the practice.
Insisting on prohibiting polygamy so that a male irrespective of his religion
can be stopped from marrying more than one spouse at a time, the BJP leader
admitted that it’s almost zero among the educated families (comprising
indigenous Muslims too) in the State. He however reiterated that the initiative
is not intended to target any community.
Days back,
Sarma constituted a committee to examine whether the State legislature had the
authority to ban polygamy. Recently, the committee headed by justice Rumi
Phookan, submitted its report seemingly indicating that the State assembly has
the competency to enact a relevant law. The hard-liner saffron leader asserted
that the ban on polygamy in Assam will be imposed by 2024, aiming to create a
positive ecosystem for women’s empowerment irrespective of caste, creed or
religion.
Men having
multiple wives (definitely not vice versa) was a common practice in ancient
India. From the emperors to kings and landlords to influential individuals all
enjoyed the practice (though with guidelines that wives should be treated
equally) as it was not prohibited in earlier days. However, after India’s
independence in 1947, voices were raised against the practice in the largest
democracy of the globe and then came the Special Marriage Act 1954 and Hindu
Marriage Act 1955, which outlawed polygamy for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and
Sikhs (with exceptions to some tribal communities and residents of Goa).
However,
the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 allows a Muslim man to
marry up to four women at a time. Even the conversion to Islam (from other
religions) permitted a man to have more than one wife. The Supreme Court later
declared this kind of religious conversion as unconstitutional in 1995. Earlier
the apex court outlawed the practice of Triple Talaq (under which Muslim men
used to divorce his wives by pronouncing the word Talaq three times) terming it
as unjustified for Muslim women as they could not raise legal voices against
the decision of her husband. The historic verdict in 2017 also paved the way to
challenge polygamy as being unilateral and unconstitutional.
Among the
Muslim dominated countries, Turkey and Tunisia have already banned the practice
of polygamy. Some nations like Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria,
Morocco, Cameroon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh allow polygamy with
restrictions. But it's rarely heard on Earth that a woman is allowed to possess
more than one spouse. One can however mention the great epic Mahabharata which
projects a divine lady living with five husbands. Draupadi, princess of Panchal
kingdom, married five Pandavas (Yudhisthir, Bheem, Arjun, Nokul and Sahadev)
and she used to live with one Pandava for a year with specific arrangements.
Months back, when Assam government cracked down on child marriages and
thousands of individuals were arrested, it came to public notice that many
elderly Muslim men used to marry young girls taking advantage of their
socio-economic status. The drive against child marriages, though logically
supported by every conscious citizen, ironically invited public outrages from
opposition parties terming it an abuse of power.
Unmoved by
criticism, Sarma stated that the drive against child marriages must continue
and legal procedures will be followed against polygamy.
----
Nava
Thakuria is a northeast India-based professional journalist who is an
engineering graduate.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/banning-polygamy-assam-women-empowerment/d/130399
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